Lord Of The Rings Reunion Gets Us Right In The Feels

The Lord of the Rings trilogy took the movie world by storm in the 2000s, creating one of the era’s biggest fandoms. Directed by the relatively unknown Peter Jackson, the film trilogy gave new life to the fantasy world created by JRR Tolkien in the 1950s. With a combination of groundbreaking CGI and practical effects, beautiful New Zealand landscapes, and an incredible cast, the movies remain popular today. 

Dominic Monaghan, who played the hobbit Merry Brandybuk in The Lord of the Rings films, was joined by three former co-stars. Elija Wood, who played Frodo Baggins, Billy Boyd, who played Pippin, and Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, all met up with Monaghan for drinks before Liverpool Comic Con. Monaghan’s caption on the picture featuring the group with shot glasses raised reads, “3 hobbits and an elf and the CONVERSATION tonight was VAULTED.” 

The reunion was teased by Monaghan with an earlier Instagram photo of the same group, with a caption expressing excitement for their reunion. The first photo was a much older photo of the group, likely taken around when they were making the trilogy, which was shot concurrently. Seeing the two pictures together creates the impression of a group of friends getting back together, making the partial cast reunion all the sweeter. 

A similar reunion occurred a few years ago, substituting Sean Astin for Orlando Bloom. In 2022, Monaghan, Wood, Boyd, and Astin all met up for a reunion dinner that was similarly shared on social media. Those four actors notably played all of the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings main cast, which meant they were frequent scene partners, especially in the first film. 

21 years after The Return of the King ended The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the emotional response to Monaghan’s pictures proves how important those films still are to fans. While later entries in the franchise like The Hobbit Trilogy and the Amazon series Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power have been divisive, the reputation of the original films has remained stirling. It’s that unmarred reputation that makes the cast reunion so charming. 

Of course, the popularity of The Lord of the Rings means that the cast of the films has been permanently attached to the franchise in the public consciousness. Seeing the actors paling around, fans can’t help but imagine their characters doing the same. This impression is even stronger, accompanied by Monaghan’s throwback picture. 

The miniature reunion Monaghan shared on Instagram is a sweet and nostalgic look at some of the trilogy’s cast two decades after the movies ended. The success of the franchise’s former cast means a full cast reunion would be hard to organize, but the positive reaction to seeing a few of the actors reconnecting shows just how hungry people are for these reunions. Maybe the trilogy’s 30th anniversary will see a full cast reunion, but until then, we’ll have to settle for this smaller hobbit and elf get-together.